PS: when you're competing against a LEGEND, it's *not* good enough to match him jump for jump, you need to kick his a**. Same thing with Michelle Kwan at Nationals, no one, and I mean no one stepped up to the plate and totally blew her away. One has to go above & beyond when one is competing against a legend. Jmho.

Yes but Sasha was able to beat that legend many times in the SP without really going above and beyond. It was due to her inconsistency in the FS that she lways lost in the end. Here Atrhur skated very well, had better program and still lost. I'm very enthusiastic about Zhenya's return but IMO Arthur sould've won the SP by a small margin.

I repeat, when one is skating against a legend of Evgeni Plushenko's caliber, his history, records, titles, firsts, et al, one needs to kick his booty. And Artur didn't do that here. The top 2 skated clean, matching each other quad for quad, jump for jump. Also, Zhenya did a 3L versus Artur's 3R. Therefore, I would have given Zhenya the edge on TES, but give Artur the edge on PCS.

That said, the competition is not over yet, lol, there is still the LP to go, and anything can happen. And the almost 5 pt. lead Zhenya has over Artur is not insurmountable. It will be close.

Russian Nationals loves Evgeni and vice versa. I have no quibble, there is still the LP to go.

^Of course he was, it is russian nationals, you know how the scores go. Last time he got 100++ for the sp, there is an improvement with 88. For his condition is too high, but he wont go international this season anyway.

Originally Posted by SkateFiguring

Why the criticism on Plush's program? He scored 8.61 for Transitions and his 9.32 for Choreography is higher than anybody's this season, maybe ever.

Plushenko isnt a threat to the top skaters right now whatever score he gets in the nationals. DONT worry. And they have bonus marks for quads I think in RN.

^Of course he was, it is russian nationals, you know how the scores go. Last time he got 100++ for the sp, there is an improvement with 88. For his condition is too high, but he wont go international this season anyway.

i love Plushenko so much, i don't mind if he skates on his *** and win. this wasn't his best, but it was quite good for someone who came back after 2 years. hopefully he'll build from here and win everything this year.

Even I would not go so far as saying robbed, lol. Seriously, it's not like Evgeni mopped up the floor falling all over the ice and was placed 1st over someone that skated clean. They *both* skated clean. And as seniorita points out, RN gives bonus points for doing a quad, which Evgeni did so successfully. His jump content is of the highest caliber and RN recognizes this, not only for him, but for ALL skaters that do a quad. But that's not enough, speed, line, command of the ice, edging, being able to skate full out through beginning to end, spins, et al, matters. The whole thing.